Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast

On today's podcast you'll hear the audio version of our brewery lease negotiation workshop. You'll learn strategies and best practices to tackle a lease negotiation (or re-negotiation) for your brewery. Key PointsLease terms, definitions, what you need to knowHow to build 'optionality' into your brewery leaseTriple net lease watch-outsNegotiation strategies and tacticsResourcesJoin the Beer Business Finance Association and gain instant access to financial training courses, resources, and video replays of past training workshopsReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

Today on the podcast we hear from Dave Williams, the Analytics Czar from Bump Williams Consulting.Dave provides a recap of 2024 beer industry data, trends, and insights. We also cover “Dave’s Top 7”. These are the hot topics that he's been hearing about recently in the beer business.Key PointsGrowth in non-alcohol beer and ready-to-drink productsOn-premise resultsHealth guidelines and the impact of tariffsTrends in cannabis and crossover brandsResourcesConnect with Dave, dave@bumpwilliamsconsulting.comSign up for the free Craft Brewery Financial Training newsletter. Financial tips and tactics to build a stronger brewery, delivered straight to your inbox.Ready to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

In today's podcast you'll hear the audio version of our workshop on brewery expense management and cost cutting tactics. We hold these workshops monthly for our Beer Business Finance Association members.  If you'd like to join 150+ other breweries in financial success, learn more about membership packages here. Key Takeaways2 cost analysis models to identify and reduce unnecessary spending5 cost cutting tactics to reduce expenses5 initiatives to implement right away to quickly lower costs ResourcesOne of the best books out there on cost-cutting: Double Your Profits in 6 Months or Less, Bob FiferFree brewery financial training newsletterReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

Today on the podcast Chris Overlay from Get Hoptimized delivers a master class in brewery marketing. You'll learn how to build your brewery sales forecast and super charge results with a best-in-class marketing plan. Key PointsSales forecasting best practicesBrewery revenue drivers and key metrics to simplify planningTools and models to build a comprehensive marketing planTactics to align sales and marketing to achieve revenue goals ResourcesConnect with Chris to super charge your brewery marketing plan, chris@gethoptimized.comLearn more about the financial education network of brewery owners and managersReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

In today's episode you'll hear the audio version of our 2025 Brewery Budgeting Workshop. We cover questions ranging from how to build your payroll plan to what key metrics to track to the best way to forecast beer margins.  Key Points3 steps to supercharge your 2025 financial planBest practices for building your financial key metrics dashboard6 questions to ask before building your budget to ensure successResourcesJoin the network of brewery owners and managers focused on driving financial resultsGet the free brewery financial training newsletter delivered weekly to your email inboxReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

Today on the podcast we hear from Jake Lohse from Presidential Brewing in Portage, Michigan.Jake has written a new book which serves as a road map for folks looking to open up a new brewery:In Shifting Gears: The Ultimate Roadmap To Crafting Your Legendary Brewery Or Restaurant, I will show you step by step how to pull it all together. Leveraging experience from having built a legendary brewery myself, I will share practical next steps, lessons learned along the way, and tips and tricks to help fast forward the amount of time it takes you to go from zero to 100 miles per hour.Key PointsThe characteristics that set legendary breweries apart from the othersAdvice for new brewers who want to stand out in today's marketHow and when to scale your breweryResourcesCheck out Jake's new book: The Ultimate Roadmap to Crafting Your Legendary Brewery or RestaurantLearn more about the Beer Business Finance AssociationReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

In today's podcast I share the 5-step process that I use to assess our financial position, create our goals, and build a road map to success. This process is designed to help you create timely, accurate, and complete financial statements so that you can make data-driven decisions in your beer business. Key TopicsHow to create a process for predictable financial resultsHow to build a plan that allows you to work ON your business not IN itOne book you must read to build a better business plan, and one book you must read to build a better businessResourcesFree mini-course: 5-Step Process Brewing Financial ExcellenceFree Craft Brewery Financial NewsletterReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

Key metrics measure the most important things in the brewery. Things like sales growth, margins, profits, and cash flow. When identifying key metrics, the first step is to measure what matters. Start with one problem you need to solve or one opportunity to take advantage of. The next step is to build a dashboard of key metrics. Identify one company goal, one KPI that is critical to watch, like cash flow. Then build up the KPIs for each department that support the company goal.  Key TopicsHow to use lagging indicators, leading indicators, process goals, and outcome goalsBest practices in choosing key metricsExample scorecards, templates, and dashboardsHow to align compensation and KPIsResourcesLearn more about the Beer Business Finance AssociationReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

The average health insurance premium for families and individuals has increased more than 24% in the last five years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. And there's no sign of this slowing down.For breweries who want to provide good, affordable healthcare for employees these cost increases are a real problem.One option to lower costs and provide better benefits comes in the form of self-funded health insurance.Speaking from my own experience, self-funded health plans saved our company millions of dollars.Yes. Millions.What exactly is self-funded insurance? How does it work? How do I know if this will be right for my business?You've got a lot of questions, and Erin Butler from BevCap management has answers.  Listen to the podcast and check out the resources below to learn more.Key Points65% of covered workers in the U.S. have self-funded health insuranceSelf-funded insurance has been available in the U.S. since 1974, with the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)Bottom line, self-funded insurance is not new nor limited to just a handful of large companiesResourcesWatch the video of my interview with Erin and download the self-funded health insurance presentation deckConnect with Erin to learn more about how you can lower costs and provide superior health benefits, ebutler@bevcapmanagement.comReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.

In today's podcast we break down the key steps to build (and implement) a successful brewery financial plan.The financial plan is the road map. Where are you now? Where do you want to go? What does financial success look like?  Listen to the podcast. Download the resources. Build your best plan EVER today! Key TakeawaysUse the 6 building blocks to organize the planning processThe X Factor to financial planning success How to crowd source the best ways to grow sales and cut costsSimple and complex financial models to build your best planResourcesJoin our network of brewery owners and managers working together to build the best brewery financial plan EVER!Get the Brewery Financial Training Program included with your membership to the brewery networkReady to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.